Talk:Generation Y

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Mergefrom.svg Cold Y Generation was nominated for deletion. The debate was closed on 04 September 2009 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into Generation Y. The original page is now a redirect to here. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here.
Articles for merge This article was nominated for merging with MTV Generation on 26 August 2009. The result of the discussion was keep.

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[edit] Anorexia in Gen Y

The desire to meet model beauty standards is still increasing, particularly in women. The Institute of Psychiatry in London found a three fold increase in anorexia and bulimia between 1988 and 1993.[1] Genetic traits linked to anorexia and bulimia may be obsessiveness, perfectionism, and anxious personality styles.[2]


[edit] Consistency

I realize that the starting/end dates are a debate of much discussion. However, I suggest taking a look at the Generation X article and the Generation Z article. Not only do they read MUCH better (Generation Y looks like a jungle in comparison), but they have pretty clear dates. Generation X is stated to go from 1961 to 1981. Generation Z is stated to go from mid-1990s to late 2000s. (I would argue that Generation Z ends on or around 2015 but that is a topic for another day and we have a few years to figure that one out). Well, going by the above, is it not completely reasonable to say that Generation Y will start in 1982 and end in 1995? It is confusing when you read that Generation Z starts mid-90s and then come to this page and read that Generation Y ends in early 2000s. I know that there is a bit of 'leeway' between generations but frankly I think we can ALL agree that the offset is between 1992-1995. Not 1995-2000. Adding on to the confusion and inconsistency, if you read that Generation X ends in 1981, it is annoying to then read that Generation Y started in the 1970s.

And finally, what's up with "This generation generally represents an increase in births from the 1960s and 70s...". Call me stupid but to me this reads as a way of saying that early Generation Y members were born as far back as the 1960s. Otherwise how would this generation represent an increase in births in the 1960s if members were not being born in those years?

It seems to me that this article can be greatly improved by going with the MAJORITY of sources that agree that GenY will start ~1982 and end ~1994. Just because we have one or two sources which say that GenY ends in 2000 or starts in 1970 (or even 1960???) doesn't mean we have to ruin the article by including them. If we had to use every source available, encyclopedias would be extremely confusing. The fact of the matter is that most people agree that GenY is 1982-1994. I am certain that we can find loads of sources backing that up. We don't need to go crazy and make the article read how it's currently reading just because we found one source that stated that GenY ended in 2000.

173.73.53.79 (talk) 07:22, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

The problem is that there is simply much more disagreement about the start dates of Gen Y. It's not simply one or two sources that cite different dates. If you go through the sources, you will find a wide variety of dates cited. Not only that, but several influential sources disagree with each other. I think the main problem is that Gen Y is still really being defined, and no settled definition has been found. Another problem is the thicket of citations. However, if you remove any of them, you will invariably have someone come along demanding triplicate proof of whatever new dates have been decided on. We cannot force consistency on the article, if there is no consistency between our sources.
As to, "This generation generally represents an increase in births from the 1960s and 70s...". It is meant to mean that in most areas, more children were born during Gen Y, than had been during the 60s and 70s, when the actual number of births decreased significantly from the 40s/50s. Peregrine981 (talk) 09:04, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

I agree with what is being said. Most sources and respected researchers use 1982 as the start date for Generation Y, and Generation Z early dates from the mid-1990s/late 1990s to early 2000s-generally 2001 as the start date for Generation Z. I think the mid-1990s to late 1990s start is almost like a sub-group. Again, there always seem to be sub-groups between generations. I think that 1990s births are mostly attributed to Generation Y. The graduation of Generation Y in 2000 seems to signal something new . . . a birth of a new Generation fits will at the time as well. Time will tell, however. --CreativeSoul7981 (talk) 13:00, 5 January 2010 (UTC)

Generation Y, as per the original Strauss and Howe definition, spans 1981-2001, with the graduating class of 2000 being the first young people of a new generation, according to many sources. I say we use this definition for Generation Y. After settling on a definition, many use certain years in between to define the "core members" of this generation. For Generation X (1961-1981), the core members were born between 1965-1975, with those around it (1961-64) and (1976-1981) being subgroups or cusping with the previous and successive generation. We can do the same with Generation Y. Those born between 1985 and 1995 are pretty much the core Generation Y'ers, the kids shaped by the first decade of the 21st century. The early 80's-born kids are kind culturally cusping with the Gen X 90's kids and the late 90's-born kids can cusp with the Generation Z'ers, differing due to their unique trait of remembering the 2000's as opposed to other Z'ers (who can't remember the 2000's or not much of it). There is a reason we are called "Millenials". We were shaped by the first decade of the Millenium. Strauss & Howe originally defined Generation Z as being from 2001-2021. I'm not defending these dates definitevely as the boundary is always more fuzzy than these dates suggest. But I agree that Generation Z proper defines children born during the first decade of the mllenium. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.255.187.41 (talk) 07:32, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

I sympathize with a desire to simplify wikipedia's definition of Generation Y, and indeed all of the generations. The problem is that it is simply not the place of wikipedia to "decide" on one definition over another. As long as there are valid, competing, notable definitions of what constitutes Gen Y, we need to report on them, even if you prefer the Strauss and Howe definition. Incidentally, Neil Howe has now amended his original definition of Gen Y, extending it to 2004, and possibly beyond, depending on events yet to come. Peregrine981 (talk) 22:38, 22 February 2010 (UTC)

I am going to agree with you. The poster above you tried simplifying it through parallel divisions, which isn't wise when you consider the events taking place. For example, it makes no sense for someone born in 1963, the year JFK was shot, different than someone born in 1965 all because we can neatly place groups together. It ignores facts.

For facts, Bruce Tolgan defined Generation Y as 1978-1990. http://www.amanet.org/training/podcasts/7117.aspx I think this should be added somewhere. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.78.125.116 (talk) 01:55, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

[edit] Regions

Some parts of the article need some more specificity as to whether they apply globally or regionally. I noticed the "pop culture" and "digital technology" sections in particular. Are these intended to apply to the USA, North America, Anglophone countries, the developed world...? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.101.77.77 (talk) 00:54, 24 January 2010 (UTC)


[edit] Upper Cutoff Point

In response to some earlier debates, I feel 9/11/01, regardless of its effects, should NOT count as the upper limit of Gen Y. That's much, much too late. "Cold" Y should end 1985, maybe 1986, while Y in its entirety really should end about 1990 or 91. Anything after that and children already started from day 1 inundated with the the modern digital post-soviet union internet team america world police world we recognize today (as opposed to us unique Cold Y who can remember quite a different world!), rather than the cold war arms selling to iran saddam is our friend communist bloc warsaw pact intel 286 motherboard 8 bit nintendo snail mail family ties world some of us can recall. Jersey John (talk) 10:21, 16 March 2010 (UTC)

[edit] Population pyramid for United States

According to this site: http://www.censusscope.org/us/chart_age.html, the 2000 Census of the United States shows the demographic in the 20-34 range were lower than both the 35-54 and the 5 to 19 age groups. If you then calcualte the birthyears of everyone in that demographic in 2000, you would have:

35-54: 1946-1965 20-34: 1966-1980 5-19 : 1981-1995


If you go even farther, you can put those birthyears into a generation, and find that the Boomers were born from 1946 to 1965, Generation X from 1966 to 1980, and Generation Y from 1981 to 1995. This is exactly what demographers use when they put the previous age groups into generations. I don't see what this 1976 to 1995 stuff is coming from, because in 2000, those born from 1976 to 1980 were all in the 20-34 age bracket.

Or, if you want to say that this was as of Dec 31, 1999, you would then be shifted a year, and the demographis would look like this:

35-54: 1945-1964 20-34: 1965-1979 5-19 : 1980-1994

Just take a look at the pyramid in the picture, and you can't deny that these birthyears are the proper classifications for Generation X, the Boomers, and Generation Y.

Generation Y HAS to have a consensus of starting in either 1980 or 1981, and that's why articles like these are appearing more and more: http://www.theage.com.au/national/gen-y--30-charmed-tech-savvy-and-ready-to-take-over-20100108-lyy6.html http://www.jsonline.com/news/85915137.html —Preceding unsigned comment added by 76.206.21.58 (talk) 01:33, 20 March 2010 (UTC)


Yeah and ending about 1990. As far as generations go, it's greatly truncated due to the massive changes in such a short time. More changed in the world between, for example, 1985 and 1995 than did 1975 and 1985. Jersey John (talk) 17:08, 20 March 2010 (UTC) (hence why we have a "Cold Y" subset... what I happen to fall in.)


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